This invention relates to electrical terminals, and more particularly to an electrical terminal designed to engage and grip a circuitboard having one or more edge contacts, the gripping action being provided by a main spring contact and, in opposing relationship thereto, a pair of stabilizing contacts.
A co-pending application Ser. No. 10/624,073 for U.S. patent, discloses an electrical device in which spring contacts held in a carrier body are brought into engagement with conductive pads on one or more surfaces of a circuitboard proximate an edge thereof. The terminals disclosed in the application are box-like metal bodies formed by strategically bending a stamping so as to exhibit a spring contact which extends axially outward and is curved or turned back on itself to provide a resilient member which can and does slidingly engage the contact pad on a circuitboard surface. The carrier body positions the contact member so that it is brought into resilient engagement with the contact pad on the circuitboard as the board is inserted into the body.
The prior art also shows terminals with opposed contacts between which a gripping or trapping action on the opposite surfaces of a circuitboard may be achieved. However, in all cases, the contacts which engage the opposite surfaces of the circuitboard are in direct opposition; i.e., the extended areas on opposite sides of the circuitboard where the terminals make contact fall more or less over one another.
The present invention provides a conductive spring-type terminal for connecting a wire or cable to an edge contact on a circuitboard by gripping or trapping the circuitboard between opposing spring contacts. However, unlike the prior art and in accordance with the present invention, there is provided a terminal body having a main spring contact on one side of the body and, in opposing relationship to the main contact, a pair of stabilizing contacts which are spread apart so as to effectively straddle the projected area of the main contact thereby to improve the stability of the electrical contact and help to prevent intermittent contact which sometimes occurs with prior art devices. The word xe2x80x9ccontactxe2x80x9d is used here to denote elements which engage circuitboard surfaces, whether or not an electrical connection is established through the contact. As hereinafter shown, the xe2x80x9cstabilizing contactsxe2x80x9d may not actually serve as an electrical path, although it is possible to use them in such a manner.
The terminal of the present invention is preferably manufactured by first preparing a stamping from a conductive metal and having an outline or shape which defines a box-like body having a bottom, top and sides as well as the main and stabilizing contacts, and thereafter bending the stamping to form the terminal body.
In the preferred embodiment, the box-like body includes a layer which folds over and restrains the stabilizing contacts. The body is also preferably formed to have a portion which can be readily crimped to and around a conductive wire or cable.
Other applications of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art when the following description of the best mode contemplated for practicing the invention is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.